From Orlando Sentinel Senior Reporter Scott Powers:
Political and community leaders came together in Orlando on Wednesday for what organizers said was the first effort to forge a unified agenda addressing Puerto Rico's fiscal crisis and providing help to Puerto Ricans no matter where they live.
The nearly 300 people who gathered at the Acacia's El Centro Borinqueno in east Orange County included elected officials, community leaders, professionals and activists from Puerto Rico, Florida, New York, California and six other states.
"We are here today with one message: We are united for Puerto Rico," said state Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando.
They agreed mainly to define urgent challenges: the commonwealth's crushing $72 billion public debt, declining economy, and reductions in U.S. federal services; and an exodus migration, most notably to Central Florida. And they agreed Washington must be far more involved.
"We are confronted with a crisis," declared Jose Lopez, executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago.
The daylong conference, organized by several Puerto Rican associations, was declared the first step toward a political agenda for Puerto Rican relief, with the goal of uniting the 3.4 million island residents and the 5.3 million Puerto Ricans living stateside.
Participants vowed to work out the agenda in coming months, in time to try to push it into the 2016 federal election campaigns, said Betsy Franceschini, regional director for the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration.
Most speakers advocated changes in U.S. bankruptcy laws to allow Puerto Rico to enter Chapter 9 negotiations with creditors. However, some — notably Sonia Colón, a bankruptcy lawyer in both Puerto Rico and Florida — argued that the commonwealth's government must first enact fiscal reforms and improve economic efficiency.
The gathering was promoted as nonpartisan, and organizers said Republicans were invited, but few came. Speakers included Puerto Rico Commonwealth Sen. Rossana López; U.S. Reps. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando; Nydia Velázquez , D-N.Y.; Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., José Serrano, D-Pa., and Brendan Boyle, D-Pa, and other commonwealth, state and local officials.
Grayson said the federal government is guilty of practicing "discrimination against the island and the people who live on the island," because they are denied benefits the rest of the country enjoys, ranging from equitable Medicare and Medicaid benefits to the option to seek bankruptcy protection.
He, Soto and others also called attention to the burgeoning Puerto Rican diaspora in Florida, especially in Central Florida. New census numbers show that the state's Puerto Rican population rose to 1,006,542 in 2014, just fewer than New York's.
Grayson said islanders are welcome, but expressed regret that their flight from the island's decline is furthering the decline.
"They should come because of the good life of Central Florida, not out of desperation," he said.
